He’s one of the most fiercely artistic and uncompromisingly daring directors to emerge in the last ten years, and this film is on a bigger scale to anything he’s done to date. It’s also a hugely impressive film, simultaneously telling an individual human story and a large-scale political tale of monstrous injustice.

1.

The uncompromising nature of McQueen’s films may put some voters off; he wasn’t nominated for either Shame or Hunger, and even the more accessible 12 Years A Slave may be a bit much for some.

2.

He was DGA, BAFTA and Globe nominated and has won several critics group awards.

2.

He lost out to Cuarón at all three of the big prizes so far, and while there’s a wind behind his film, which triumphed at the AFI and PGA awards, it may not extend to the director himself.

3.

As a Turner Prize winning artist, he may sufficiently impress the Academy that they feel obligated to vote for him.

3.

We’re not sure that Oscar voters are necessarily familiar with / impressed by one of the biggest awards in the art world.